Had a visit to the oral surgeon today to find out our "action plan" and walked out with a referral to the head and neck department. I was diagnosed a week ago today with SCC and a rating of moderately well differentiated......I'm new to all of the lingo so bear with me. I have heard they will cut the tumor out of the left side of my tongue and possibly do a neck dissection to check out the nodes. Do they knock you out for this? I have heard good recovery times after the surgery so I'm looking forward to turkey dinner on Christmas.

Welcome to the forum and sorry you need to be here. I don't have the knowledge needed to answer you, however I'm sure you will see some posts soon from very knowledgable educated people.
Best wishes

The definitely knock you out for this depending on how large the tumor is and how much tongue they remove - some require grafting - this can be a 10 to 14 hour surgery. I'm not going to get into details it makes for an exceptionally long post however please read my reply to kazy (the post just below yours - newly diagnosed) she will be having he same kind of surgery - I went into great detail explaining the cancer and surgery. If they get you in for surgery before Christmas it would be ideal - as you don't want to wait with this - recovery time if it's a large tumor is approximately 2-6 weeks depending on the extensiveness of the surgery and how you heal. Generally of you get a graft they don't let you eat for the first 8-10 days. After that it just retaining yourself to eat - it's not normally a minor surgery.

Also you want to be treated at a cancer center if possible and by a top ENT.
Best of luck and do educate yourself knowledge is power.. Hugs

Welcome to OCF! Glad you have found our site to help get you thru everything that you are facing. We will help with info and support.

I would suggest going to a comprehensive cancer center (CCC) before making a final decision on what your course of treatment will be. Its a big difference between a CCC and the average hospital in how they will handle your treatment. At a CCC, they use a team approach and get all the specialists together to discuss your individual case. Everyone is on the same page and you will get the countries top doctors who are more experienced with oral cancer. This can be very important when discussing having the kind of surgery you are looking at having. You do NOT want someone who isnt well versed with oral cancer to be your surgeon. If they dont get wide margins then you could end up with all kinds of bigger issues down the road.

As far as eating goes.... eat NOW. Bulk up, dont worry about gaining a few pounds. If you love a big turkey dinner, Thanksgiving is just around the corner, live it up!

Prior to any treatment, you should have a hearing test, a full blood count with both thyroid and testosterone levels. Go see your dentist for a good check up. If you have any teeth that arent in the best shape, have them taken care of now. If you will be getting radiation, you will need flouride trays made so it wouldnt be a bad idea to get the ball rolling on that too while you are there.

Your treatment will probably be a surgery and 6 weeks later radiation with or without chemo. You could be in for a long road before you are cancer free again. It wont be easy but you will get past this. Might be a good idea to line up some helpers for when you arent feeling the best. Also its always a good idea to take someone along with you to the doctor appointments. Too often we get some bad news and our ears stop working.

Best wishes with everything!

Hello Fish - welcome to the family, you just joined a big one, one where all the members either have oral cancer or are caregiver to one who does. Your new brothers and sisters are very supportive, after all, we've stood in your shoes, we know what it's like.

You have a big journey ahead, one fraught with opportunities to be afraid of the present and the future. Most of that is fear of the unknown as before diagnosis you probably knew nothing about this new beast in your throat. But, we will get you past the unknown if you stick with us and read, read, read what is written here.

The other fear is worry about everything. Will the treatment be successful, will the cancer come back, will it hurt too much, for how long, will I be able to eat, to sleep, to talk. You will be told over and over on this forum that worry like that is counter-productive. It accomplishes nothing positive and lots of things negative ... it lets cancer win.

So, your "mission" is to get through this thing day by day, hour by hour if necessary. When the worry demons start knocking on your door you need to have a list of pleasant things to do on the inside of that door. Don't open the door, read the list instead, pick one, and most importantly, go do it, right then.

My list is long: go finish that Michael Crichton novel I'm working on, go work on building a new radio control model airplane, go fix one you've crashed, go watch a good movie (Youtube has lots of free movies to watch, check it out in the Friends Forum below). Go listen to some good music (also on Youtube - full concerts even, check out the two Phil Collins full concerts he did in Paris). One specifically for you, go clean out and organize your "fishing" tackle box. Go re-line that rod and reel, it probably needs it anyway. If you have the energy go wash the car, a clean car always makes me feel better. If you can't think of anything else just go outside and look at the stars at night or just enjoy the sunshine during the day. Try to locate the North star or Orion's Belt. Look for Venus at night and in the morning. A walk might be even nicer, you don't have to go far or go fast ... just go.

Long story short, the list is endless. Just don't sit there and worry about stuff.

Welcome to the family, Fish. Stick with us, we'll get you through this.

Tony

New update:

Just saw the resident doc yesterday and they ran a couple of ct scans for head, neck and chest. Doc felt around the tumor area and was pleased it didn't appear to go over the other side of the tongue. I have a pet scan scheduled for Monday and I am camping with my son over the weekend. I have a great wife, son and lots of friends. I am very happy I found this site so that I can vent, communicate and hopefully one day write SURVIVOR! I have way to much to do. I scuba dive, bike and spend lots of time with my family. I guess I will give up beer for this, but after being diagnosed I have found how much I want to get through this and live.

Give up beer!?! Search this board and you will find threads talking about the inherent bitterness being oddly pleasant. I have one with dinner (never ever more than two) once a week or so and enjoy it way more than before Tx. I have NO desire to over indulge and get the same vibe from others who have expressed a new found taste for beer. When you have felt as bad as we have why would anyone make themselves feel like crap on purpose?

I have also read posts from folks who have made dramatic changes to their diet including beer and wine and I totally respect that decision too. Hey, if you get seniority in this little club of ours you should be able to do what you please!

I think it is the bitterness. I cook with beer too, in rice, beef stews, Welsh rarebit...I make a drink called a Michalada, basically a Mexican Bloody Mary with Beer, not even 12 ounces, not that spicy, but spicy enough for me. It also helps cut the mucus too. and would opt that instead of soda. HPV is a different cause that tobacco, alcohol related, so the risk may not be the same, and would have to be excessive, like 16+ a week even if non HPV, but a magazine article, about a year ago, said even one drink raises your cancer risk, and there was a post, and discussion about this if you search. I'll take my risk with my occasional 6 ounces, but definitely I didn't drink during treatment, with certain medications. I was probably two years post treatment.

I have never smoked and didn't drink at all before Dx, ran 30+ miles per week, and ate as close to a perfect diet as I could get (trying to stay off statins)....and got cancer. I'm certainly not going to tempt fate with bad behavior but I'm also not going to obsess over every little thing. I think life is somewhere between the two.

[quote] I think life is somewhere between the two.[/quote]Took me a long time to figure out moderation is the key to a happy and less stressful life! Much of our lives is dictated by our DNA and there is no amount of running or eating this or that is going to overcome that. :-)